Irish couple desperate to bring sick dog home to Ireland to spent final days with her

An Irish couple are desperate to bring their sick dog Gracie home to Ireland.

Fiona Barry and Keith Ward rescued their pup when she was three months old from a glass cage in a pet shop in Bogota, Columbia.

They then brought Gracie to a vet who said the dog needed urgent medical attention.

An Irish couple are desperate to bring their sick dog Gracie home to Ireland. Pic: Supplied

When Fiona and Barry first saw Gracie, she was without food and water, drinking her own urine to stay hydrated.

The next day Gracie was extremely lethargic in her cafe — it was then the couple took action.

Fiona said: ‘Despite feeling it was the wrong thing to do, we handed over money to the pet shop to rescue her.’

When Fiona and Barry first saw Gracie, she was without food and water, drinking her own urine to stay hydrated. Pic: Supplied

The vet found Gracie was malnourished, infested with fleas, had parasites in her intestines, a high fever, and a bad bacterial infection.

She stayed three nights in the animal hospital and is on many medications for ten days.

The vet found Gracie was malnourished, infested with fleas, had parasites in her intestines, a high fever, and a bad bacterial infection. Pic: Supplied

Fiona wrote on a GoFundMe, set up to help with costs to bring Gracie to Ireland: ‘Keith and I are backpackers who left Ireland in June to travel the world. We never intended to be in this situation and we never expected to meet nor fall in love with this dog.

‘She has become our absolute world and rescuing her and bringing her back to full health is one of our proudest achievements.

‘So far, we have paid for all of Gracie’s expenses from our own savings — from food and bedding to vet bills and medication. We are on a backpackers budget and therefore don’t have a constant flow of money coming in.

‘She has become our absolute world and rescuing her and bringing her back to full health is one of our proudest achievements.’ Pic: Supplied

‘We have decided that we want to bring Gracie home to Ireland to spend the rest of her days with us and our family. This cost to transport a dog across the world isn’t cheap and involves a lot more than just booking flights.

The couple have set up a GoFundMe to help raise funds to bring Gracie home with them to Ireland. Pic: Supplied

‘We want Gracie home for Christmas with our family. She had an extremely tough start to life and she deserves nothing more than love and affection for the remainder of her life. Keith, I and our family can give her that in abundance.’

To donate to the fundraising campaign, head over to their GoFundMe here.

Normally, TikTok isn't the place to go to get your urgent medical advice. A medical student, though, is using the social media app to tell people some basics about what he is learning while becoming...

New data released by the Department of Health has confirmed that another nine people have sadly died from COVID-19 in Ireland. This brings the total number of fatalities since the start of the outbreak to...

An Irish vet has warned about the dangers when sourcing dogs from breeders online like Love Island's Tommy Fury and Molly-Mae Hague. The reality couple's Pomeranian puppy died just six days after they brought him...

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has issued new advice on face coverings and confirmed that they should be worn where social distancing is not possible. There has been uncertainty surrounding the use of face coverings...